Harland Sanders Cafe!

What Is the Harland Sanders Café?

This was the place where Colonel Sanders developed his Kentucky Fried Chicken!

What Makes It Historical?

In 1930, at the age of 40, Harland Sanders moved to Corbin, Kentucky to operate a Pure Oil Company service station on the “Dixie Highway,” US 25! While he normally cooked for his family, he started selling extra meals to hungry customers, and only a year later, he moved across the street and expanded his service station to include a dining area and one of Kentucky’s first motels! A legend was born in 1935 when Governor Ruby Laffoon, a big fan of the chicken here, gave Mr. Sanders the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel!

One of the keys to Colonel Sanders’ early success was tinkering with early pressure cooking technology to create a pressure fryer, which cut chicken frying time from 30 minutes to 9! It’s unclear if this had anything to do with the fire that destroyed his restaurant in 1939, but by July 4, 1940, the Harland Sanders Cafe reopened. That year, the globally recognized Original Recipe of 11 herbs and spices came to be!

In 1952, the Colonel sold his first franchise license under the name Kentucky Fried Chicken to Pete Harman of Salt Lake City, Utah! Under pressure from the construction of I-75 drawing away traffic, the Colonel sold this restaurant in 1956 and set off with his wife, Claudia, to sell franchises, 600 in less than a decade! After selling the brand to Jack Massey and John Y. Brown in 1964, the Colonel settled into the role of spokesman for the brand and spent the rest of his time with charitable causes like the March of Dimes and setting up a geriatric wing for Louisville’s Jewish hospital! As of 2022, this tiny, roadside cafe is now represented by over 25,000 KFC restaurants in over 145 countries and territories!

How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?

Donate to the Laurel County Historical Society!
Donate to the KFC Foundation!
Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!